We've had plenty of "activity" near our chicken coop recently....squirrels have been dancing around the area, and a hawk landed right outside their yard!!
Today we were going out to do daily care, and we're right about to go into the yard. Earlier, we had heard a squawking, so we figured an early bird had laid an egg. Then I see the nearly unmistakable brown-diamond pattern of a copperhead sitting virtually right at the corner of their fence. It was a smaller snake, but it was eyeing them like it was ready to go in for the kill.
When you think of how small chickens are, then comparing the venom amount of a 15-inch copperhead............
I was inside getting my Mom, and meanwhile my sister was keeping an eye on the predator, and she said that when Buffie, (The sweet, sixth-ranking girl out of six) went to investigate the copperhead, the snake moved its head and slithered forward a little bit, sizing her up like a meal.
Buffie's fine, and the snake is in two with a smattered head over the fence.
Here's how I think the "Snake Policy" should go:
Venomous snakes threatning the chickens have to be put down, and non-venomous ones have to be relocated, only killed as a last-resort, if the snake is actually approaching the birds.
Today we were going out to do daily care, and we're right about to go into the yard. Earlier, we had heard a squawking, so we figured an early bird had laid an egg. Then I see the nearly unmistakable brown-diamond pattern of a copperhead sitting virtually right at the corner of their fence. It was a smaller snake, but it was eyeing them like it was ready to go in for the kill.
When you think of how small chickens are, then comparing the venom amount of a 15-inch copperhead............
I was inside getting my Mom, and meanwhile my sister was keeping an eye on the predator, and she said that when Buffie, (The sweet, sixth-ranking girl out of six) went to investigate the copperhead, the snake moved its head and slithered forward a little bit, sizing her up like a meal.
Buffie's fine, and the snake is in two with a smattered head over the fence.
Here's how I think the "Snake Policy" should go:
Venomous snakes threatning the chickens have to be put down, and non-venomous ones have to be relocated, only killed as a last-resort, if the snake is actually approaching the birds.
